Joaquim Rodriguez knocks Chris Froome off WorldTour top spot

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) has taken the lead in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) WorldTour ranking after his victory in Sunday’s Tour of Lombardy, knocking British Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Sky) down to second.

Although his victories have been few, Rodriguez has placed consistently highly in several of the season’s biggest races – not least third overall in the Tour de France and fourth overall in the Vuelta a Espana. As well as his Lombardy win, Rodriguez has ridden well in one-day classics including second in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and sixth in Fleche Wallonne.

Froome now sits 20 points behind Rodriguez in the WorldTour ranking, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in third. Early season WorldTour leader Peter Sagan (Cannondale) slips down to fourth in the table with Vincenzo Nibali in fifth.

With one race remaining in the 2013 WorldTour – the Tour of Beijing (October 11-15) – Rodriguez cannot be tumbled from the top spot. Froome was due to ride in China but the back injury that meant he was a non-starter in Lombardy has also ruled him out of the Tour of Beijing. Rodriguez topped the 2012 WorldTour.

Team Sky continue to dominate the team ranking, sitting ahead of Movistar and Katusha. Spain is the top nation ahead of Italy and Colombia, with Great Britain in fourth.

The UCI’s WorldTour Ranking is compiled using a points system, with points awarded for one-day race, tour stage and stage race overall finishing positions for events in the UCI’s WorldTour.

The amount of points awarded depends on the ranking of the event. For example, winning the Tour de France overall gives a rider twice as many points as winning the Eneco Tour overall.